My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Gallatin Canyon (Vintage Contemporaries)
The stories of Gallatin Canyon are rich in the wit, compassion, and matchless language for which Thomas McGuane is celebrated.
Place exerts the power of destiny in these tales: a boy makes a surprising discovery skating at night on Lake Michigan; an Irish clan in Massachusetts gather around their dying matriarch; a battered survivor of the glory days of Key West washes up o...more
Place exerts the power of destiny in these tales: a boy makes a surprising discovery skating at night on Lake Michigan; an Irish clan in Massachusetts gather around their dying matriarch; a battered survivor of the glory days of Key West washes up o...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
June 12th 2007
by Vintage
(first published 2006)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
289)
Solid collection of late-period McGuane. The stories are largely oblong---that is, you can't find the center, and the endings come from odd angles that give a new perspective on the main conflict. The best here is "Cowboy," which succeeds largely because of the clever voice and the telescoping action. There are also at least two nostalgic childhood stories in the classic "Araby" mode---"Ice" in particular is affecting. A couple of the stories are a little too in the...more
view all 6 comments
I have noticed something with regard to my reading habits. It seems that I am slowly warming up to the idea of reading a book that is not a novel, but instead is a collection of short stories. And this book that I recently finished is one of them.
The thing that usually irks me about short story collections is the fact that I usually find myself at a loss when I finally get to like the protagonist, and suddenly the story ends and another one begins. I suppose that is just how short stor...more
The thing that usually irks me about short story collections is the fact that I usually find myself at a loss when I finally get to like the protagonist, and suddenly the story ends and another one begins. I suppose that is just how short stor...more
When I moved to Arizona to go to college I supported myself working in bookstores and Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane were the first modern writers that I read and identified with. So picking up this collection of short stories for me was like slipping on that ancient, comfortable pair of wear-bleached white blue jeans.
The Montana based stories in this collection are vintage McGuane. The two stories Vicious Circle and Old Friends featuring John Briggs were probably my favorite. I ...more
The Montana based stories in this collection are vintage McGuane. The two stories Vicious Circle and Old Friends featuring John Briggs were probably my favorite. I ...more
Thomas McGuane has been praised for his remarkable writing style, emotional depth, and close observations about the American West. This collection, full of edgy wit, irony, and bleak characters, received the same acclaim as his previous works, but critics agree that some stories are better than others. "Miracle Boy" and "The Refugee" are complex and compelling, while "The Zombie" feels like filler. In fact, though reviewers agree that McGuane deserves a wider reader
...more
This is McGuane's most recent effort, and some of these stories seem either too brief or too long for their own good. Particularly, "Ice," "Vicious Circle," and the final tale, "Gallatin Canyon" left me with that unexplainable feeling of mystery usually characteristic of great short stories. Others like "Cowboy" and "Old Friends" seemed colder and more technical in nature, lacking the ability to evoke any sort of empathy from the reader.
I had read two of the stories in this collection previously--probably Best American short stories or crime stories. I couldn't finish the longest one, The Refugee. Too damn much boating.
Favorite: "Cowboy," in which a farmhand condenses years of life on a ranch into 12 pages. Also, "Vicious Circle," in which a first date ends with the innocent-looking Olivia swamped by her alcoholic tendencies.
Quotes,/b>
People in relationships nowadays ...more
Favorite: "Cowboy," in which a farmhand condenses years of life on a ranch into 12 pages. Also, "Vicious Circle," in which a first date ends with the innocent-looking Olivia swamped by her alcoholic tendencies.
Quotes,/b>
People in relationships nowadays ...more
Very enjoyable read. The long story "The Refugee" was three times as long as it needed to be. The rest were wonderful scenes of America. I found that I ddin't want to read the last three pages of the title story because I knew it would end in a way that I wouldn't like (great description of Idaho though).
Probably my last favorite book of the past few years. I was excited about the book because it's a series of short stories all set out west. Only one of them was any good though and I was really just wishing the book would end. Luckily it was only 220 pages so I didn't devote too much time to it.
So far I love the voice in these stories; the general gruffness brings me to the western places the stories take place, places that are similar to those I am beginning to understand thanks to the Myths of the American West course I am currently teaching.
Alan
is currently reading it
I've never really gotten into short-story collections, but I cannot seem to focus on any one book, so thought I would give this a try. A couple of stories in and I am really enjoying McGuane's voice(s) and his use of the medium.
Now I will be one to say right out, I am not a fan of short stories.
Unless it's scary/horror stories.
These were really nice short stories.
Some were better than others, of course, that will happen.
But all in all, not a bad book.
Unless it's scary/horror stories.
These were really nice short stories.
Some were better than others, of course, that will happen.
But all in all, not a bad book.
Short stories that are easy to read and rather amusing. First time I read this author, he is good.
Love these stories and especially "Cowboy", which is one of my all-time favorite short stories.
Did not live up to the billing it got from the recommender.
i think the one story in here "refugee" is 5 stars. i love thomas mcguane
just okay!
Stories of the old and new West, given to me by my most trusted book source, one Macdonnell Gordon. Though McGuane writes with a masculine slant, he loves about the West what I do. Well, sort of. He writes more about cows, cowpokes and their ilk, of which I know next to nothing, but we are both fans of long horizons and big, open sky.
McGuane is an astounding writer and this collection of short stories is probably his best.
My favorite story here is "Gallatin Canyon," which I've reread at least four times now. I love the new west/old west issues that lead to misunderstanding, especially in the realm of the personal. It's a collision course sure to be fatal to someone - and it is.
he's the mirror image of alice munro. she starts the love of a good woman with a car sinking in a river. he ends this book with one. he's funny and unpredictable, and i like the dependable ridiculousness of his characters.
This book was recomended by novelist and book editor Jenny Shank as part of the Rocky Mountain Land Library's "A Reading List For the President Elect: A Western Primer for the Next Administration."
I love Tom McGuane. He gets ranch life in a way Annie Proulx never will, regardless of her gorgeous language. He gets it because he lives it. I guess there's a lesson in there. "Cowboy" is brilliant.
Beware: This book can't be clipped on Kindle. It's fucking disgraceful and I wouldn't recommend buying it as a result.
Aliens is so bad. Otherwise I'd write a little more friendly review.
Aliens is so bad. Otherwise I'd write a little more friendly review.
Great series of short stories and really good reads if you just want to capture the essence of people in the west and how they think and feel things and express their emotions.
Jason
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who read short stories and like them.
For the most part the stories are dope. There is some weird-o shit going on at times, but whatevs. The dialogue is the gnar-gnar and McGuane is too.
Wow. Why did I wait so long to pick this one up? Fascinating so far, and I am only on the second story. Reading this one on my iPad.
I remember loving this collection but can't bring to mind one of the stories in it at this time.
I am not just biased because I live in Montana- these are great short stories.
Much plainer stylistically than McGuane's earlier work, but just as satisfying.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
